It’s been decades since San Francisco was ground zero for the AIDS epidemic, but for one population, it still is.
Viral suppression drugs have made HIV a survivable disease for many, but there is a major discrepancy when it comes to people who are marginally housed or homeless.
Seventy percent of housed persons living with HIV in San Francisco are virally suppressed, compared to 33 percent of homeless persons, according to the 2017 San Francisco HIV Epidemiology annual report. Further, homeless patients accounted for 14 percent of newly diagnosed HIV cases, despite representing 1 percent of the population.
